He's gonna be an expert swapper if he swaps those drivetrains every couple week or so That's a lot of changing over to do every time. Well I guess it wouldn't be too bad, as long as the EMS was wired in such fashion as to be able to be used on both engines fairly easily. Maybe have an detachable harness for each engine.

During the dark hours of night, mountains guarded the peace of the night when the nature slept. But sometimes, even the mountains were disturbed by some arrogant, short-living bipeds, who built their roads, tunnels and houses all over the mountain range. But nature adjusted into that, accepting it as the part of evolution. But lately, different kind of disturbance had started shredding the calmness of the night.

Six cylinders, 24 valves, two turbochargers and 2.6 liters. Normally, that would equate approximately 320bhp. But not so in Daichi's blaxing blue R32 VSII. His car had been modified up to 420 bhp, which gave it top speed of 170mph. It was fast.. on straights. But tonight, that thing had been changed forever.

Daichi's heart was pounding as he buried the throttle to the floor, exciting the tight hairpin faster than ever. Earlier, his R32 would had understeered to the rail ages ago, but now it just gripped, gripped some more and urged Daichi to press the throttle some more, just to find out the limits. This far he hadn't reached them.Daichi laughed out loud, following the urge and his R32 V-Spec II charged out of the hairpin section, into the fast serpentine section. Small tap on the brakes shifted the weight to the front, and previously oh-so-clumsy and stubborn R32 started a perfect, smooth AWD drift., sailing thru the mild corner cracefully, just like it had done in Daichi's dreams. But this time it was real.

Sam followed Daichi's uphill run with binoculars. He didn't want to believe his eyes. Stubborn, old understeer queen called R32 GT-R was performing 4WD drifts? He glanced at his trustworthy R33 N1, and sighed as he felt a sting of guilty. His car had been built for highways, not for narrow mountain roads. Still, he wondered if his car could handle like that someday as well.

Soon Daichi pulled over at the pylon on the top of the hill. Sam walked to him, smiling. â€œHey there, Daichi-San. I heard some talk that your R32 had reborn as much more agile car, but I didn't believe it before I saw it. Incredible..â€ Daichi chuckled happily, bathing in the admiration of a fellow GT-R owner. â€œIndeed. That little front-end diet did wonders, not to mention the upgraded drivetrain.â€

They chattered about this and that for a while, before returning to Daichi's R32's recent modifications.â€œWell, basically I asked a friend of me take molds from the front body panels and make them from carbonfiber. It wasn't cheap, but it paid off as you saw. But finding that crashed R34 Nur's complete and undamaged ATTESA-ETS PRO drivetrain system was pure luck.â€ Daichi shivered as he remembered the amount of money he had spent on the mods.

â€œSo, it's not only lighter, but also more nimble than R34? I'll be damned.. I'm envious about your car, and that doesn't happen often to me.â€ Daichi grinned. â€œHave you heard? Midnight Dragon has folded her wings for a while. Ryuu's not going to attack wangan yet.â€ Sam winced as he remembered that flip-painted beast that left him breathing the exhaust fumes on the highway. â€œWell, I can assure you, that I'm not very sad about that.. did you get any information from him?â€ Daichi nodded, and told what he had found out about the new engine of the KP60. â€œ Twin-VGT's and overboost? In a wankel engine, that's fitted to a car which weights less than 800 kilos stock..? â€œ Sam sighed heavily, feeling dumbstruck, yet relieved. He hadn't been beaten by mere tinkered fourpotter, but highly tuned masterpiece. He probably would had punched himself hard if it would had been a lesser engine than that monster.

â€œI see.. but I think that it did hurt more into Pink's ego than mine. After all, he claims that he has fastest rwd Toyota in the region.â€ Daichi smirked at Sam's remark. â€œIt probably WAS fastest, Sam.. Now it's just little spot in Ryuu's mirror. Now, let's get back to town before morning shifts start, I want to see if I can keep up with your wangan monster.â€ Sam grinned and headed to his car, and soon, duett of modified RB26DETT's was echoing from the walls of the dark mountain.

Ryuu yawned as he slowly climbed off his bed. Night with Akane had went well, but still, he thought that he shouldn't had taken so many beers. His head felt like a drum beaten by sumo-wrestler, and he assumed that the neighbours cat had used his mouth as litterbox, judging from the taste. He groaned as the room swayed in his eyes, and then, taking slow, tentative steps, he headed to the toilet.

He had this thought that he had missed something important as he brushed his teeths. And right on the next instant, he managed to poke the brush hard into his cheek, spewing the foam from his mouth from the shock as semi-naked Akane stepped out from the shower. â€œGood morning to you too, sweetie.â€ Akane chuckled as Ryuu did his best not to choke and hide his own bare body. â€œoh, don't act coy, I saw enough of that last night, stud..â€

If he would had used old-fashined razor for shaving, he would had slit his wrists from the sheer amount of embarrasment as the blurry memories from last night returned to his sore mind.

â€œUrrrhhh.. I.. did we.. you and I.. I mean..we.. right?â€ Ryuu mumbled, still bright red from the embarrasment. Akane smirked. â€œFour times, hun.. four times. Now, there's some coffee, bacon and toast if you like.â€ She said, sailing past Ryuu, and 'accidentally' slapped his butt, causing Ryuu to yelp.

~About an hour later~

Ryuu felt himself somewhat humane now. He had driven Akane to her home, standing her continous teasing like a man, and after that, he had returned to his apartment and took a short, cold shower that brought him back to his senses, more or less. He glanced his clock, just to see that he had about 15 minutes to get to Hideaki's garage so they could swap the super-turbocharged 4A-GE back. â€œOh bugger. I guess I have to step on it in broad daylight..â€

Katashi was already standing in the yard as Ryuu swerved on the driveway, grinning widely. Akira came out too, muttering to his father. â€œLook at that smirk.. Either he has got laid or then he just did 150 in the middle of morning traffic.â€ Katashi just grunted, flipping his cigar away and walked to carage.

~hours later~

â€œThere, She's ready to rumble again.â€ Akira said, shooting a disbelieving glance at Ryuu, who was spacing out with a soft smile on his face. â€œRyuu..? Earth calls space dork Ryuu? OI!â€ Ryuu didn't awaken before Akira tossed oily rug at his face.

â€œWhat now? Oh, she's ready..? Fluids changed and all?â€ Akira nodded, wiping his hands clean, looking like he'd burst unless he wouldn't know what had happened last night. He started to make careful questions, which just made Ryuu's intolerable grin even wider. Finally Akira managed to ask the big question, just to hear the worst. â€œH-he got laid before I did..â€ Ryuu slapped his friends shoulder comfortingly. â€œHey, it's not that bad.. besides, I was drunk, so I don't remember much.. so I don't think I'll count that.â€ That saved Akira's day. After cleaning the body panels from oil and other fluids, and checking that all wirings were done right, Ryuu drove off from the Hideaki's carage, heading to the mountains, where he belonged.. for now.

It took a while to get used to the old engine again. Ryuu knew that he wasn't slow, but everything seemed to happen in slow motion after the new engines test run. His car was now tuned with grip in mind, but small, or as some would call it, ideal drifts were still available.

It was still daytime, so he didn't raise his speed too much, because he could tell that these roads weren't empty during the day.But now someone was gaining him at high speed. He couldn't tell the make or model until it had almost reached him. â€œFD RX-7? And he's in a hurry..â€ Ryuu muttered, putting on his turning signal and moving closer to the wall, so the RX-7 could pass him. RX-7 just flashed it's headlights. Ryuu noticed that the car had been modified with RE-Amemiya's bodykit. â€œSheesh.. does he really think that he's Keisuke Takahashi..?â€ He sighed. Ryuu decided that he'd floor it until the next gast station, that was some miles ahead. â€œKeep up if you can, fanboi!â€

The driver of RX-7 just grinned as he heard the revs rising. But the grin faded quickly as the old slowpoke of a Starlet leaped forwards accompanied by unique sound mixture of turbo and supercharger, pulling multiple carlengths on him before he got his RX-7 to the useful rev range. â€œFast..! That really is the Midnight Dragon..!â€ Yuuka Tsubasa thought, as he pressed the throttle, urging his RX-7 into highspeed chase. â€œBrother.. we have a new challenger right here..â€

Ryuu looked how the RX-7 got smaller in his rearview mirror and laughed. â€œKids these days..â€ He eased off some, still keeping up a good pace. The RX-7 was slowly creeping back to it's position. Ryuu didn't want to play in the daylight, so when the fuel station came up, he pulled over for fuel. The RX-7 followed.

Ryuu was already filling his tank with high-octane as the RX-7 stopped next to him and the driver stepped out. â€œNice ride you got there.. Say, isn't that the Midnight Dragon?â€ Yuuka asked, looking at the KP60 more closely. Ryuu nodded, grinning a bit. â€œYeah, that's her. How so?â€

Yuuka started refuelling his car. â€œJust curious.. You're probably our next challenger. I'm Yuuka Tsubasa, the other half of Cheetah Brothers, the fourth team of this area.â€ Ryuu lifted his eyebrows. â€œI hope you were going full throttle back there?â€ Ryuu nodded. â€œI did go all outuntil I couldn't see you no longer. What about you?â€ Yuuka laughed. â€œ I was going flat out too, but my turbo setup needs some revs to work, as you noticed..â€ Ryuu nodded. He had pondered why RX-7's acceleration had been so slow in the beginning.â€œAnyways, you have some serious machinery there. You defeated Three Katanas with ease, or so I heard.â€ Ryuu smiled. â€œWell, it wasn't that easy race, but the stakes were high..â€ Yuuka nodded. â€œ Are you gonna be around tonight? I thought that if I can catch my bro, we could have a race.â€ Ryuu pondered for a while. It hadn't been long since he had defeated Three Katanas, but if it would mean money to him, he would agree. â€œI'm not sure if I'm available tonight, but.. during this or next week, if it suits you.â€ Yuuka agreed with that, finishing the refueling and went in to pay the fuel with Ryuu.

Ryuu spent that day driving along the mountain passes. Few times he thought he had seen slightly familiar car in his rearview mirror, but it always vanished before he got better look. â€œUgh. That hangover was way worse than I thought, I guess..â€

Finally the night arrived to the mountains. Ryuu was flying up and down the roads, chasing down imaginay racers, trying to figure out new ways to beat them. But suddenly, after a really long straight, his practicing was interrupted abruptly with a deep roar of twinturbocharged inline six. â€œWhaaaa..?!â€ As they went under the lights, he finally saw th car properly. He had thought that it was Daichi, but no. It was that white-neon pink Supra from wangan, and it was tailgating him. â€œYou again? In here? Gimme a break..!â€

It indeed was Pink's Supra. He hadn't got over the humiliating loss at the highway, right in front of his ex-gf and her new boyfriend. â€œI got you now, punk..! No-one humiliates the king of wangan without punishment!â€

Both cars were going flat out already. Supra was flashing it's headlights and blaring it's horn, just inches away from the KP60's rearbumper. â€œWhat's wrong with you? Can't find the right pedal, noob?!â€ Pink wasn't aware of the engine swap at all. He thought that this was the same monster that had defeated him with ease on wangan. But it wasn't. They were doing 140mph, and that was as fast as Midnight Dragon could do in it's touge spec. Ryuu grunted, hoping that there would be some corners soon. Then he could get rid of that over-powered, fat-assed Supra.

Pink almost crashed as they arrived to the first slow bend. He wasn't used to driving in mountains. Lighter KP60, that was more suitable for this kind of roads, started slowly gain some distance to the Supra. Pink cursed loudly, slamming on throttle and practically doing a burnout thru a short straight between corners, then slipping into wobbly drift thru the corner, scraping the safetyrail slightly. Ryuu kept checking his mirrors, grinning as he saw the difficulties of the big sportscoupe. â€œYou're starting to understand, kid.. you have to drift to keep up with me..â€ He grinned as his car went to next corner, rear tyres sliding just a bit.Pink was shouting curses and sweating heavily. It indeed was tougher than he had thought. His big Supra was too slow in corners, and almost too big for drifts on these narrow roads. And on short straights he couldn't get traction. He got more and more frustrated, adding the speed even though it was risky for him. â€œI won't be beaten by that POS again, you hear me?!â€

Ryuu saw the Supra closing in. â€œOh, you're fast on straights? But.. you know, there's one thing here in the mountain.. do you remember what comes after a straight..?â€ Supras nose dipped as Pink stepped hard on the brakes, almost making the car spin as he turned to the tight hairpin. Ryuu laughed. â€œJust give up, kid. You'll just end up with wrecked ride.â€ just as he said that, Pink lost control at the exit of the hairpin and spun, barely avoiding a collision with the wall. Ryuu didn't slow down as he left the angry wangan specialist behind.

Pink got out of his car, shouting from frustration.â€œI'll get you sooner or later, you hear me?! I won't stop until your car is wrecked, you hear me?! f**kHEAD!! Run away while you can!â€

In the next chapter Ryuu has a friendly rematch with Daichi and his reborn Godzilla. He also meets Sam and few other members from Sam's small GT-R specialist team called Skyline Squadron, while preparing to race the Cheetah brothers.

On top of the mountain, the radio pylon's parking lot was occupied. Seven pretty similar looking cars had been parked there. This small meeting was for Nissans finest and their proud drivers only. Daichi looked at the six other cars, that were driven by Sam's GT-R specialist team, that was known as â€œThe Skyline Squadronâ€. There was two of each generation represented, all of them tuned slightly. Or atleast stock bodywork did give such impression. Only the wing and rims were changed in them, and one had some stickers in it. The drivers were standing in front of their cars, chattering happily. Daichi could tell that there was atleast three different nationalities right there.

â€œSo, this is the famous Skyline Squadron.. I have to say, I'm impressed. Care to introduce us?â€ Daichi asked from Sam, who nodded. â€œWhere do you want to start?â€ Daichi looked at Sam like he would had asked something stupid.. and from Daichi's point of view, he HAD asked something stupid. â€œFrom R32's, of course!â€ Sam smirked and walked to the R32's with Daichi. The rest if the team joined them.

â€œAllright, this mop-head here is Leonidae, or Leon for buddies, and he drives R32 GT-R V-Spec II. He's even bigger R32 fanatic than you are, and knows small bits andWel pieces that even Nissans engineers have difficulties to remember about R32.His driving style is quite neutral, but sometimes he likes to show off to noobs that even R32 can drift. He's Finnish, thus, fast driving is part of his national heritage. He also was first one who pushed R34 GT-R beyond 300mph in Gran Turismo 4, so he's fast in real life and virtual world too. His current setup is pushing bit over 500 bhp, if I recall right.â€ Leon, short Finn grinned. â€œ509bhp to be exact. Rest of the car is quite much similar to yours. On good day, I've been able to keep up with Paganis and such.â€ Daichi nodded, and they proceeded to the next R32, and Daichi noticed the stickers and subtle NisMo badge. He rushed behind the car.

â€œ NisMo S-Tune..?! I want to know everything about it!â€ Daichi walked back to the team members and Sam continued. â€œRrrright.. so.. this is, like you noticed, NisMo S-Tune, or like Greycap here likes to call it, â€œThe ultimate R32 GT-Râ€, whatever that means.â€ Sam got a friendly punch from Leon. â€œOkies, back on business. The engine has similar output to Leon's, but the power delivery is bit different, right?â€ Greycap, the driver of S-Tune just nodded. Sam grinned. â€œSee, that's legendary basic Finn. He doesn't laugh, smile or cry, he just has one expression.â€ Daichi laughed a bit, before asking a question. â€œWhy do they have similar outputs? These engines could easily offer more than mere 500bhp.â€Sam didn't have time to answer, as Leon cut in. â€œit's Finnish legislation. If our cars would be strictly roadlegal, they'd push out about 400bhp, since legally we can either add 20% of power or 25% of displacement. But this output is enough for our roads. And to be exact, Greycap's output has one more bhp than I do, but I have more torque than he does. I believe that it's the nature of the engine block in NisMo S-Tune. His car also feels stiffer or understeery than mine, so I'm willing to believe that NisMo has fiddled with ATTESA's programming and suspension. It feels like racecar, that has all the grunt above 5000 RPM's.â€

Daichi nodded again. He simply loved these two R32's. He knew that his own R32 wasn't bad either, but it didn't have the refinement yet, as his suspension setup hadn't been finetuned yet. They moved on to the two R33's. The white one, Sam's own R33 GT-R N1 was familiar to Daichi already, so they skipped it and got into Luke's R33.â€œHm, another R33 N1?â€ Luke, the owner of the car responded. â€œThey're more common in the UK, and there's plenty of tuner carages that know how to work out with them. And not a word about how their look screams early 90's..â€ Daichi just looked at Sam and Luke innocently, whereas Leon laughed out loud. â€œEvery R33 driver has sensitive spot right there when the looks of the car comes into discussion..â€ Leon said, smirking, getting annoyed glare from Sam, who moved on to the R34's.

â€œWell I'll be damned. Another NisMo GT-R?â€ Sam nodded. â€œIt's NisMo R34 R-Tune, the 'entry level model' of Z-Tune. Same car, bit milder looking though. Never the less, Alan still loves it, because he has defeated most of the M-powered vehicles around his home town in mid-europe.. not to mention occasional supercars.â€ Daichi shook his head. â€œYou guys really keep up the pride and reputation of GT-R's.. Oh, there's one more N1?â€ Daichi asked as he noticed the beautiful white R34 that had carbon bonnet.â€œYes, that's Chris's R34 GT-R V-Spec II N1. He wanted it for it's superb engine response and driveability. He lives in Austria, and there are plenty of lovely mountain roads to drive along. Though, they're not as exciting as these are.â€ Daichi smiled, then looked down from the mountain, listening for the sound of twincharged 4A-GE.â€œNow, all we need is our hero in his shoppingbag and the main event will start....â€ Sam twitched at the word 'shoppingbag'. â€œOy.. that 'shoppingbag' did defeat my R33 with ease, so it's formidable opponent, despite having less power now. I also heard that Pink had sneaked on him on this same mountain pass and got beaten even more severely than back then on highway.â€ Daichi sighed. He knew that he didn't have much chances, but he wanted to know if these latest modifications could pay themselves back in the future.

Ryuu had just finished giving an interview to the WTCR-magazine. He had been bit surprised as he heard that Akira's little brother, Kohaku was a junior cameraman and video editor of the DVD's they distributed.â€œAlright, that's about it.. but, I have to go now, I have a rematch against Daichi.â€ Ryuu said, looking at his clock. Then he got an idea. He looked at the older reporter and Kohaku. â€œYou guys haven't had any in-car videos yet, right? Both my and Daichi's car have mounts for cameras, and there's a possibility that there's a third car involved too. You could get some spectacular footage.â€ The journalists didn't need more persuading. They all got into Ryuu's Starlet and headed to the mountain.

Pink was on the move too. He had been following Ryuu's movements closely, looking for a chance to pay back these humiliations he had been thru. He had also been practising his drifting after fixing his damaged bumper. He was literally obsessed about beating that ridiculously fast piece of junk. He had heard that there would be a downhill race tonight between Midnight Dragon and some mildly modded R32 GT-R, and realised that this would be his chance. He had driven almost to the top of the mountain, near the pylon where the GT-R team had been waiting. He had found a small sideroad, where he drove, starting to wait his prey's arrival.

At the base of the mountain, Midnight Dragon started it's climb towards the top. Ryuu didn't push it too hard, since he wanted to save his tires. Though, his average pace seemed pretty fast to the journalists aboard his car. The weight of three extra people aboard disturbed Ryuu's cornering a bit, and the car felt sluggish. â€œThis extra weight isn't good.. I think you guys have to get along with videocameras only.â€ The senior journalist nodded. He didn't feel very comfortable, and he knew that he would be horrified if he would have to sit aboard this madman as he would attack the downhill at full speed.

~20 minutes later~

Finally Daichi could hear the familiar sound of twincharged engine approaching the top of the mountain. The members of the Skyline Squadron were eager to see what kind of car could defeat their leader with ease on highway. Well, most of them atleast, excluding their leader. Sam had told them that he had been beaten by old Toyota, but nothing more than that. As the front lights appeared , few members though that it could be old Corolla, KE25 or such. As Ryuu finally drove under lights, there were more than few stunned gasps.

â€œSWEET! It's KP60 Starlet!â€ Yelled Leon, who had always had a soft spot for that tiny hatchback. â€œNo wonder that you got beaten, Sam.. but it's in it's touge specs now, right?â€ Sam nodded. â€œIt SHOULD be making 320bhp maximum.. but I wouldn't be surprised if it would have some more.â€ They watched as Ryuu turned the car around. Sam noticed that the front bumper/spoiler and rearspoiler were different, and the exhausts were smaller. â€œThe dragon has folded it's wings, but I'm pretty sure it runs down the mountain just as fast as it flies on highway..â€

Ryuu shut down the engine, and stepped out of the car, followed by the reporters. After short introductions, Sam finally got to talk with Ryuu face to face. â€œSo, you're the one who defeated me and my rival just in front of my girlfriend..â€ Ryuu looked a bit puzzled, before realising what he was talking about. â€œOh, right, that high boost run on wangan.. sorry about that. If I would had known that you had female on board, I could had let you continue that sandbox fight..â€ Sam laughed. â€œI'm glad that you did interfere, there could had been an accident later. But I heard that Pink has been a pain in the butt after that incident.â€Ryuu shaked his head. â€œThat guy should stay on wangan. That oversized butch-machine is not suitable for touge. Too much power, too tight suspension and way too much power. He nearly crashed when he chased me last time.â€ Sam nodded, agreeing fully.

After few moments of friendly chatter about their cars and whatnot, Kohaku told Ryuu and Daichi that the cameras were set. Leon was chosen to be the chasing camera car, and the senior reporter would sit in the car. â€œWell, atleast he'll improve the overall balance of the car..â€ Throttle happy Finn had muttered.The cars lined up. Ryuu would lead the first run, followed by Daichi and Leon. They had no clue that there was someone keeping eye on their preparations.

â€œSo, they're letting the Dragon lead first? That means that my chance will come during the second run as they go past..â€ Pink thought as he looked carefully towards the starting point. â€œThree cars..? Three-way battle maybe? No.. Wait.. Those are reporters from WTCR-mag.. They must have installed cameras.. Can't be helped.. and it's even better if it gets filmed when I slay that out-dated junkpile..â€ Pink smirked slightly and returned to his car, preparing for the second run.

â€œ5..4..3..2..1.. GO!â€ Sam's hand went down, and three cars roared past him in a blink of an eye, twincharged Toyota's unique sound almost drowning to the snarl of the two RB26DETT's. The rest of his team was amazed, since the tiny Toyota had managed to keep it's position despite being RWD. Greycap wasn't very amazed. â€œLight weight is one of the greatest weapons in downhill, followed by braking. It evens up the power advantage and superb traction of GT-R's pretty well.. I wonder if Leon can keep up with them, after all, their cars are way lighter than his.â€ The rest of the team looked bit uncertain. â€œCould GT-R really lose to that old hatchback?â€ Chris asked. Sam nodded. â€œYes. I, if who, have first hand knowledge about that matter.. Back then it had almost twice as much power as I had.. Now it's other way round. But here it has light weight and compact size, not to mention better handling on it's side. Ryuu was indeed smart when he chose that car.â€

In the cockpit of the Starlet, Kohaku was holding on for his dear life. His brother had told that Ryuu was fast driver, but forgot to mention that he was insane kamikaze-kandidate as well. Most of the time, Kohaku was certain that they were out of control or crashing, but somehow, Ryuu piloted the car between the blurry scenery, like he would be following a complex line that only he could see. The engine howled, hissed and whined, making the car shiver like it would had been a living being. From time to time, Daichi's engine could be heard over the cacophony of noises.

Daichi knew that it wouldn't be easy battle. The young reporter next to him was doing the same as Kohaku, clinging to the door and whatever he could grip to hold still in his bucket seat. The KP60 in front of him was almost teasing him, occasionally letting him close before almost slipping out from the glare of his headlights. â€œWhy you.. I'll show you what my reborn Godzilla can do! â€œ He floored the throttle, slingshotting his car out from the hairpin, chasing the old Toyota mercilessly, followed closely by Leon's more powerful V-Spec II.â€œThey're fast.. But that KP60 seems to be just toying with us.. Oh, there he goes.â€ Leon said as the blue GT-R in front of him started to get smaller. He pressed the throttle as well, keeping up with his power rather than driving technique. The older reporter looked like he'd faint any moment. â€œF-faast...!â€

Ryuu was slightly startled as he noticed how close Daichi had got. â€œDamn.. he caught up! Okies, Kohaku, hold on tight, now we'll go flat out.â€ Ryuu grinned, blipping the throttle as he downshifted and entered another tight hairpin.Kohaku just could whine, since his voice had failed. â€œHe wasn't going at full throttle yet?!â€ Then he noticed something strange. The car was accelerating while IN the corner, and it was also drifting slightly. â€œWhat the..?â€ He looked at Ryuu, then the steeringwheel, that seemed to be straight. â€œIt can't be..â€

Ryuu paid no attention to Kohaku's shocked expression as he kept his foot down, performing nearly perfect zero-countersteer drift with very small angle. He hadn't mastered it yet, but he was able to use it when needed, and at the moment it was the right thing to do. Despite the fact that this was a friendly rematch, he had no intention to lose.

Daichi could only watch in shock as the Starlet vanished behind the corner in front of him. He applied more throttle, and the rear wheels slipped slightly, but not enough to engage the front wheels. â€œD-damn.. Fast.. Gotta go for it at final straight!â€ He cursed his incomplete suspension setup that didn't allow him to apply more throttle in corners. Never the less, he was faster in corners than Leon.

â€œOoh boy, he almost drifted there. I wonder if ATTESA kicked in.. But I think he lifted his foot from the throttle.â€ Older reporter looked horrified. â€œB-but these cars are 4WD! They can't be drifted!â€ Leon just grinned. â€œ O rly..? Don't make me demonstrate it to you.. But the last straight is close, that'll be Daichi's last chance to try catching up and passing Ryuu.â€ Older reporter nodded. He knew this mountain pass quite well, after all, he had been on the passanger seat as the older Hideaki had been driving.

Slowly but certainly, Daichi's R32 closed the distance between it and the KP60. The fast final section had started, and the downhill wasn't advantageous to the lighter Starlet anymore. â€œHa! I got you now, Ryuu! You can't outrun me on straighs!â€

Ryuu kept the throttle down, smiling widely as he saw Daichi closing in. â€œYou think you got me on straights? Think again, buddy..â€ He pressed the boost scramble button, and Kohaku couldn't do anything else but shout â€œWHEEEEE!!!!!â€, as his back was pressed firmly to the seat. Starlet's speed kept growing at similar pace as Daichi's. Leon closed in too. â€œWell I'll be damned.. He's keeping the distance! It's up to second run now.â€

Indeed it was so. They had returned to the pylon's parking lot, and Daichi was having a very interesting discussion with Leon. Ryuu was drinking water. He didn't want to admit it, but it had been a close one. He knew that if he would had left the boost scramble out, he would had been defeated on the first run. Kohaku was talking with the other reporters, and they were pretty excited. This would be excellent addition to their next DVD.

After half an hour, they got ready for the second round. Daichi would be chased this time, followed by Ryuu and Leon. Pink was waiting already, his engine idling. He'd attack as soon as they'd pass his hiding spot.

Soon enough, the roar of the engines grew louder, and Pink started revving his engine, trying to get as much boost as he could. Then they passed him, and he lifted the clutch, launching his Supra after the three racers.

â€œWhat the..? There's a fourth car behind us, and it ain't a GT-R.. Supra..? Oh great, it's that lowlife from the highway.â€ Leon grunted as he noticed the white coupe that was gaining them. He flashed his highbeams to Ryuu and Daichi, so they'd know that they had company.

Ryuu looked into his mirrors, seeing a glimpse of the Supra behind Leon's R32. â€œAhhh.. The TougeNewb is here.â€ He chuckled and pushed him out of his mind, concentrating on Daichi. Daichi ignored the interfering douchebag as well, flooring the throttle and headed to the hairpins, followed closely by Ryuu and leaving the Supra to Leon. â€œAllright, old man.. hold on tight, now you'll experience something wild. "Daichi and Ryuu had already entered the hairpin, and Pink was right on Leon's tail, as if he'd going to pass him right before the hairpin. â€œThe hell you will..!â€ Leon growled, and swerwed towards the outside of the corner, scaring the hell out of the older reporter, who yelled in horror. The scream died as soon as it had started, when Leon turned the wheel sharply, breaking the traction in the rear and floored the throttle, initiating flawless drift and keeping it thru the corner, right in front of Pink's Supra that had to slow down to avoid crashing.They exited the corner, followed by outraged Pink. â€œThat was Scandinavian Flick, old man.. something what you wouldn't expect from understeery R32.â€ Leon grinned charmingly, and did it again, just to piss off Pink, who had to slow down again.â€œGet the hell out of my way, you idiot! I have a score to settle with him!â€ Pink yelled as he stood on the brake, barely avoiding collision with the crazy GT-R that was drifting in front of him. He decided that he'd start drifting too in the next corner, just to show that he could do it as well.

Ryuu noticed that Leon was blocking Pinks overtaking efforts easily, so he concentrated on Daichi's GT-R. He could tell which areas had been improved since their last race. There were few areas that had been vastly improved, and some areas, that were just nominally better. Daichi could turn better and brake later than before, but he still didn't push the limits of the car. Ryuu closed in at the corners, starting to add pressure on Daichi. â€œKnock knock..! Guess who's right in your trunk?â€

Daichi cursed as he saw how close the Starlet was. He felt that he was pushed hard from behind, that he wasn't fast enough. He increased his pace, even though he knew the risks.

Pink was within few meters from Leon's GT-R as they approached the next corner. Daichi and Ryuu had cleared it already, increasing the distance. Pink decided that he'd pass this wacky GT-R after this corner. He prepared for the unusual movement that the GT-R had done this far before entering the corner. He initiated his drift.. just to notice that the GT-R hadn't opened the inside line this time. â€œOH f**k...!!!!!â€ He instinctively turned the wheel more than was needed, and then he turned from driver to passanger.

â€œNow he's done it, he can't recover from that one.â€ Leon grinned and accelerated his car out of the way as the Supra initiated it's drift. The older reporter looked behind as the Supra skidded towards the wall, unable to recover from the error. They could hear the crunch as the white coupe slammed against the wall without control and vanished from the view. â€œSo much about that car..â€ Leon grinned, going after Ryuu and Daichi.

Ryuu was pressing Daichi hard from every possible direction. He attacked inside line, he made false attack to the outside, forcing Daichi to look at his mirrors instead of the road ahead. Daichi was sweating heavily, and the reporter next to him was silent.Finally, in the few last corners, his cars tyres couldn't keep the car in the line, and he slipped towards outside. Next thing he heard was the unmistakable howl of well-tuned twincharged 4AGE, as Ryuu took the inside line, applying the boost scramble and using his light cars grip, pushing the small chassis into the opened space. Daichi knew that he couldn't close the line anymore without crashing. Small and nimble KP60 slowly but certainly went side by side with Daichi's R32, achieving the goal at the same time. â€œDamn..! He's nuts.. in a place like this..â€ Daichi cursed as he eased off the throttle, stopping the car. Leon arrived soon, grinning savagely.

The got out of the cars. â€œNo more need to worry about Pink. His car was disintegrating against the wall last time we saw him. Too bad that he didn't go thru guardrail..â€ Leon said.â€œWhat happened?â€ Ryuu asked.â€œWell, honestly speaking, he got fooled by a Mad Finn.. He thought I needed to do scandinavian flick every time I start the drift, thus, he thought he could take the inside line. But in the last one, I simply broke the traction with braking. He overcorrected and then he went to kiss the wall. Stupid brat..â€ Ryuu and Daichi laughed. â€œWell, how about you two? I didn't have time to keep they eye on you guys thanks to that idiot back there.â€Daichi sighed. â€œHe won. He pushed me so hard that I had to increase my pace and my tyres got too hot and lost traction. He got side by side with me on this straight, so I guess it counts as his win.â€

About an hour later they gathered on service station nearby. They saw how tow truck pulled Pinks wrecked Supra behind it, and laughed. Ryuu knew that Pink would be back someday, but he didn't want to worry about that. Thus he pushed it out of his mind and went to have some junk food with his new friends.

In the next chapter, Cheetah Brothers show Ryuu the real potential of proper rotary drivers. Ryuu will also visit the wangan again, just to see if he could reach the topspeed!

he has always had the boost scramble available. and since his car is so much lighter, it has better power to weight ratio. it this case the race could as well have been between Lotus Elise (Light, nimble, good power to weight) and Mustang GT (heavy, not so agile yet quite powerful).

Ryuu stepped out from the small grocery. He had bought some food and stuff, since earlier this morning he had noticed that all his fridge kept inside was light, and even that was bit dim. As he stepped out with the bags of food, he noticed a small papernote under his cars windshield wiper.

â€œTonight at the pylon's parking lot , at 11:30. We'll wait you there with gallery.â€

Cheetah Brothers

And underneath their names was a paw, that had rotary rotors as toes and palm. Ryuu couldn't suffocate amused snort. â€œRight..â€ He put the note into his pocket and returned to his apartment. He had some other arrangements to do as well.

Few hours later he was at Hideaki's carage. He noticed that there was a pile of parts that seemed to belong into some 4WD machine. Some electronic circuits were scattered on the table nearby too, so it couldn't be much else than ATTESA from old Pulsar Gti-R, updated with wrecked R34 GT-R's ETS PRO-system. â€œMy oh my..Katashi, why are these things scattered here like this? ETS Pro circuitry, ATTESA-drivetrain.. unless..?â€

Older hideaki just glanced at him with a wicked grin. â€œSame deal as earlier. Win and you get them installed for cheap price. Lose and you have to pay full price plus the work.â€ Ryuu bit his lip. The stakes were high indeed. But he decided to play old mans game for a change.â€œIf I win, you install these into my car.. but if I win by.. say, 4 second margin or more, you'll add free reinforced and lightened carbonfibre driveshafts.â€ Akira dropped the screwdriver as he heard that, but older Hideaki just grinned. â€œWilling to gamble already, hmm?â€

Akira didn't know what to say. Obviously his friend had gone nuts, but if his father would agree, then he wouldn't be sure which one was nuts. The carbonfibre driveshafts would cost almost as much as the drivetrain and electronics together. The silence ended as the older Hideaki cleared his throat, lighting a cigarette. â€œFour seconds or more and you'll have those fancy driveshafts. Under four seconds and you'll let me have the car for few weekends when I'll go to see girls at the town.â€

Akira's mouth hung open. â€œThat filthy old perv! Always thinking of girls!â€ Ryuu laughed. â€œThat'll be fine by me, as long as you don't burn the clutch or wreck the car otherwise, old man. We have a deal then?â€ Katashi nodded and Ryuu shaked hands with him.

â€œOkay, now that we've dealt with that, we need to think if there's need to change the setup for this race,â€ Ryuu said. Akira nodded weakly, still dumbstruck by this sudden gamble. â€œ In the last race, the tail was still bit too loose. I think we need to adjust the rear toe out slightly in order to make the rear bit more stabile. The damper's rebound needs to be faster and anti roll bar needs some adjustment too..â€ Akira nodded and started to work with his father and Ryuu. They had enough time to complete the setup and check the rest of the car before the night.

After finishing the check-up, Akira did some searching in the forums of WTCR-mag. He found out that the reward from beating the fourth team of the area was twice as much as the one Ryuu got from defeating the Three Katana's. He told this to Ryuu, whose eyes lit up from enthusiasm. â€œDamn, I could buy another KP60 and install the wangan stuff into that! No more need for swaps then..â€ Akira agreed, he had thought of that as well. Katashi walked behind them as well, peeking to the screen. â€œNearly 4 million yens? Not bad, not bad.. But you'll get more than 10 as much when you'll be pro.â€

Ryuu nodded slightly. Maybe after defeating all teams of this area.. But there was always someone faster. Usually he was the one who was faster, but he knew that this couldn't keep going on forever. He sighed a bit. He noticed that there was some coffee left, so he took freedom to pour a cup for himself. He sat on the hood of his car, spacing off to distance, wondering what certain girl was doing at the moment. Maybe she was blasting down a mountain pass in her JGTC NSX replica or something.. But then he shook his head and sipped his coffee, listening the discussion between Akira and Katashi. They agreed that it would be more practical to get two cars for different purposes. It would save time and such a lot.

â€œSay, kid, you gonna buy another car for Wangan runs?â€ Katashi asked from Ryuu, sitting next to him. â€œIt has crossed my mind. If I win this one, I'll probably do that. Akira could start searching for possible victim via internet.â€ Older Hideaki nodded, looking at the young man next to him. He certainly had those qualities what proper racing driver needed. He had tactical eye, he knew what would be efficient and understood how the car should be set up for different tracks and purposes. He also had fighting spirit and cunningness. â€œI'll be at your disposal in this project. But I'm not sure which one will be more famous: The original Midnight Dragon or it's future brother..â€ Ryuu chuckled. Sometimes the old man was bit too sentimental.

Yuudai watched how the darkness fell on the mountains, and the lights ignited, illuminating the dangerous, cold roads. His brother, Nori, was pulling last breaths from his cigarette as the clock crept closer to half twelve. Yuudai knew that his brother was nervous. He was anxious too, after he had heard that Midnight Dragon was also known on Wangan as well. He was intrigued by the rumour that on wangan, the Midnight Dragon used rotary engine instead of normal piston engine.

â€œWhere is he.. it's freezing in here.â€ There was soft murmur in the gallery, and suddenly someone yelled. â€œHe's at the bottom, coming up fast! Midnight Dragon is here!â€ The athmosphere electrified instantly, and Yuudai forgot his discomfort. Finally the race would begin!

Ryuu saw that there was lots of people on the edge of the road and on top of the walls, cheering at him. He felt kinda funny because of that, and annoyed. â€œWait few years, please..â€ He muttered to himself. The road was moist here and there. He knew that these wet patches could determine the result of the race.

Nori shivered as he heard the odd sound of the engine. For a moment, he thought that it really was some mythical beast that was crawling up the mountain, hissing and snarling at him. Finally, the headlights climbed on top of the crest. There she finally was in her dark beautifulness. The engine was left idling as Ryuu opened the door and stood up, grapping a thermos bottle and sipping hot coffee from it. Yuudai and Nori walked up to him.

Nori hardly heard what his brother and Ryuu talked. This was the beast that had chased down Ryoichi's normally aspirated, 300bhp 20B powered RX-8 with ease. For some reason, he felt that this car was looking back at him. He jumped a little as his brother slapped him on the shoulder. â€œMan, you're really jumpy tonight. What is wrong with you?â€ Nori didn't answer. â€œAnyways, he'll lead the first run. Come on, let's get ready.â€ Nori kept looking at the little Toyota. He felt it's gaze on him, it's aura. He was certain that the car was haunted somehow. And still.. He shook his head and followed his brother to their cars.

They lined up on the starting spot. Ryuu noticed that Kohaku and some other members of WTCR-mag were there too, writing and taking pictures for an article. The previous numbers, especially the one with DVD about his run against Three Katanas had been practically torn from their hands. He shook his head. This run would probably sell even more magazines than that.

The countdown ended, and the cars took off. Ryuu's lighter KP60 had advantage in acceleration, but soon, the rotary brothers were right on his heels. They entered the first corner carefully because of the moistness, powering out from them bit more aggressively. Ryuu kept an eye on his mirrors, seeing that the Cheetah Brothers were still on him. He grinned and increased his speed, dashing towards the the damp, cold darkness.

Yuudai and Nori followed him tightly, copying his lines as well as the slippy surface allowed them to. Their RX-7's were light, but that Starlet did weight almost half a ton less. Nori cursed as he felt his tyres slipping. â€œThere's some leafs on the road too..Great.. Just great!â€ Yuudai was struggling too. His car did it's best to use all the grip it had, but laws of physics were against the rotary rockets this time.

Ryuu felt how his car wiggled slightly every time when some of the wheels lost traction. Cold sweat was running down his back, as he urged his car to run faster. He saw the headlights behind him, about few seconds away. â€œBit more.. Just a bit more.. DAMN!â€ He cursed as the rear tyres slipped more than he had intended. Thanks to the Starlet's short wheelbase it was easy to recover from that.â€œI have no choice.. Here we go!â€He arrived on the longest straight of this downhill, and hit the boost scramble. The rear tyres skidded a bit before the weight transferred to the rear, pressing the tyres to the cold tarmac and forcing them to grip harder. Tiny Toyota accelerated fiercely towards the end of the straight, followed by the RX-7's.

â€œWhat the..?! He wasn't that fast back then! Does he have nitrous oxide or something?â€ Yuudai growled, pressing the throttle harder and chasing the Starlet with all his skill, followed by Nori. â€œMidnight Dragon.. That's not a car, it's a monster..!â€ Nori thought as he followed his brother closely.

Ryuu braked sharply, swinging his car into the corner aggressively. He knew that he'd lose traction sooner or later, so he decided to give up on the useless fight for traction. All he knew was that if he'd lose control now, he'd roll over again and again as he'd go hundreds of meters down the hill. Every single of his nerves and senses were out there, and he could almost feel the road before the tyres did.

Nori felt that horrible chill again as it ran down his spine. For a second he thought he saw a midnight blue dragon vanishing behind the corned ahead of his brother. He blinked his eyes quickly, but the apparition was gone. â€œWhat the.. oh damn.. that's the last corner! It's up to second run now.. so.. that thing will be behind us then?â€

Indeed it was so. Ryuu passed the finishingpoint way ahead of the brothers, and stopped his car. He blinked his eyes. The last few minutes of the race had been a blur of dark scenery. The RX-7's stopped right next to him as he took the thermos bottle again. The brothers got out from their cars as well, looking at him. â€œIt was clearly your win. Next run will start 15 minutes after you've arrived on top of the mountain.â€Ryuu nodded and sipped some more coffee. He still wasn't sure what had happened. He walked to the kid who had the stopwatch, just to hear that he had reached goal almost 5 seconds before the others. Ryuu's insides jolted a bit. â€œThose parts will be mine if I can keep up with these two!â€

Within thirty minutes, Ryuu was back on top of the mountain, lining his car behind two RX-7's that would be chased this time. He felt very confident about this run. He needed and deserved those parts, and somehow, he thought that his car knew it too. It had been running very smoothly, without any shudders or spikes in the engine's performance. Or then the new parts had just settled into their places and finally started working smoothly.

Ryuu noticed that Nori looked bit pale, and walked to him. â€œAre you ok? You look bit pale.â€ Nori shook his head. â€œIt's nothing. I must be tired and imagining things.. But I can drive, if that's what you're worried about.â€ Ryuu looked at his own car. The carbonfibre parts made it look like it would have really flexible scale-armor on it, hence the name Midnight Dragon. â€œShe's really running well tonight. Maybe the cold air has something to do with it.. what do you think?â€ Nori shrugged. He glanced shortly at the car, feeling uneasy. â€œI guess so. Shall we get ready?â€ Yuudai was already sitting in his car, looking determined. Ryuu agreed and returned to his car, sitting on the bucket seat and closing the door, and started the engine.

Nori knocked to the window of his brothers car and Yuudai lowered it. â€œSay what you say, but that car is a monster, and so is the driver. Can't you feel it?â€ Yuudai was silent. He felt something, but he thought that it was just normal pressure from the race. â€œIt's just the tension from the race, Nori. Concentrate on your driving and don't look back.â€ Yuudai said, closing his window. Nori nodded uncertainly and stepped into his own car. He looked at the menacing Starlet, that purred softly on idle. â€œIt's just a car like others.. but why do I feel intimidated?â€

The countdown reached zero again, and three cars blasted off from the starting point. Cheetah Brothers were determined to win this run, so they pressed hard into the corners, relying on their ABS to prevent spinning while braking sharply. Two rotary powered cars accelerated smoothly out from the corner, followed by small Toyota's sharp snarl.

â€œThey're faster this time..â€ Ryuu muttered to himself as he saw Cheetah Brothers getting distance to him. He started to apply more throttle, feathering it as he felt the traction vanishing. Slowly but certainly he started to reel those rotary rockets in. Corner after corner they were closer.

Yuudai and Nori used different methods in the corners. Yuudai usually went out-in-out, whereas Nori did the opposite. It had been proved to be effective method against fast opponents that would otherwise try passing in the corner. Suddenly, Nori felt that cold, threatening tingle on his skin again, and he glanced the mirror. The Starlet was right on his tail. â€œWhat the.. when did he sneak that close?!â€ Nori asked from himself. He knew that this KP60 was fast on corners, but the last section had been quite straight and not so steep either. But there it was, snarling right at his heels, urging him to run faster, taking the chance of crash or worse. â€œHe's out of his mind!â€ Nori had to increase his speed to avoid being tailgated. He got closer to his brother, who had also increased his speed after noticing that their opponent was right at them.

â€œThe hairpin chicanes.. I have to attack there, because that's the last thing they'd expect.â€ Ryuu thought. He was within metres of the Nori's car in front of him, copying it's driving lines smoothly. He grinned. â€œWhat do you say, old buddy? Few squeezes more and you'll have a brother.â€ Ryuu floored the throttle, and pressed the boost scramble, placing his car right next to Nori's RX-7, claiming the inside line for himself.

â€œIn a place like this?! Doesn't he remember that the hairpins are next?! â€œ Nori yelled, then grit his teeths and tried to gain some ground from the KP60 that had stolen the driving line from him. But it was too late. Yuudai braked already in front of Nori, and Nori had to slam on the brakes as well. KP60 didn't have slightest intention of braking yet as it charged towards the corner. Yuudai saw from his mirror that Ryuu was coming in too fast for him, and he had to slow down more, keeping the outside line while the Starlet used Nori's in-out-in-line, passing him with ease. Yuudai and Nori could only watch in awe as the lighter hatchback used it's advantage fully and without a flaw in the termination of this daring move. After that, the brothers had no other choice but do their best to keep up as the midnight blue Starlet cleared the hairpins without a clue of struggle.

After the race Ryuu had opened the hood of his car. The engine ticked as it cooled off slowly. Ryuu felt light-hearted. â€œAtleast I don't have to borrow you to that old perv now..â€ He looked over his shoulder as he heard steps closing in. It was Yuudai. â€œDaring move back there, Ryuu.. And flawlessly executed one too. You did spank us almost literally.. As you must know by now, there's a reward you get from defeating a team, and it doubles up every time. So.. Here you go. Use it wisely.â€Yuudai gave him a bank note. Ryuu looked at it, nodding. â€œ I will.. Is Nori okay? He was pale back then.â€ Yuudai laughed. â€œWho wouldn't be after trying to run away from this little beast of yours? Keep going like that and you have to go to Gunma to find some challenge. Even though you might not go head on with Project.D, there are other teams.â€

Ryuu chuckled at the thought of him trying to run against Project.D's twin aces. â€œFat chance.. but, I gotta go now. I have a little project going myself, and I need to kick certain pervy old man back to his carage tomorrow. Laters. â€œ Yuudai nodded, shaking hands with him after Ryuu had closed the hood.

~Few hours later~

Ryuu was almost knocked off from his feet as overjoyed Akira leaped on him. â€œYAAAY! No more swaps, right?!â€ Ryuu laughed and nodded, showing him the bank note. â€œ4,5 million yens waiting to transferred to my account.â€ Akira did a small victory dance on the yard, until his dad slapped hid head once again with the hand that had the ring.â€œIn the morning you'll call to that dealership and book that car to us. Ryuu, you'll go to bank and transfer the money onto your account, and then come with cash to the dealership, okay?â€ Ryuu nodded. He saw that the custom made driveshafts were there already. â€œYou never cease to amaze me, Mr Hideaki. Only few hours from the race and you already have these?â€ Katashi just smirked. â€œI have my connections to certain places.. Now, go to rest, you've deserved it. Tomorrow the brother of Midnight Dragon will fly.â€ Ryuu didn't disagree with that, so he headed home.

In the morning, Ryuu leaped out of the bed right before the alarm went off. He quickly went thru his morning rituals, eager to get on the road. Today, he'd start doing attacks on the Wangan.

He just got out from the bank as his phone rang. It was Akira. â€œYou have to pick me up. I'll drive the car to here.â€ Ryuu said that he'd be in front of their house in ten minutes. â€œWhat, in ten? You're not gonna break speed limits again?â€ Ryuu grinned. â€œNah.. I'll just slip past them without breaking them.â€ Ryuu could hear a sigh at the other end as he finished the call and jumped into his car, blasting off at high speed.

Soon Akira was aboard of the car, giving Ryuu directions where to drive. The traffic was mild so the trip didn't take too long. Ryuu drove to the backyard of the dealership, spotting many classics here and there, more or less good shape. There was even Toyota 2000GT and few european cars too.

Then he spotted the car they were here for, a yellow KP60. Ryuu and Akira got out from his car and walked closer, looking at it more closely. The note in the windscreen said that it had boon owned my single person since it was sold, and been driven under 30k miles.

â€œIt looks like almnost factory new.. Look, even the cigarette lighter is there.â€ Akira said, pointing at it. The doors were unlocked, so they took a closer look inside. Only small scratches here and there and worn pedals told that the car was used. At that point the salesman joined them, and Akira started long, yet skillful haggling while Ryuu did more accurate inspection. After some time, he and the salesman got into agreement about the price, and ryuu followed them in to write the papers and pay the price.

After drinking a cup of coffee at the dealership, they went to the cars. But unexpected problem occurred.

â€œWhat do you mean it doesn't start? Haven't you driven a car that has carburettor engine before?â€ Ryuu asked from ashamed Akira, who just nodded. â€œSheesh.. See that lever there? That's choke. Try it and behold.â€ Akira followed Ryuu's advice and after few tries, the car started. â€œRemember to push it back when the engine has warmed up.â€ Akira nodded and waited that Ryuu sat in his car, before he drove off from the dealership.

Katashi was already waiting them outside. Akira drove the car straight to the carage, where it would be stripped to shell and re-assembled as totally new beast. It would be wider and lower than his current car, and it would also have similar underbody as he had now, and all parts that he had tried back on the first wangan run, and some extra.

â€œYou know, Mr Hideaki, there's a small blind spot in Akira's training. He might know everything about engines and electronics, but.. He couldn't start carburettor engined car without assistance.â€Akira muttered something rude. Takashi just laughed. â€œAh, right, that.. There's a simple reason for that. We haven't had carburettor engined car since early 80's, and that was way before he was born. So, all he knows is injection engines.. Well, I think he knows now how to deal with carburettor engines too.. Don't you, son..?â€ Akira just nodded, pouting and kicking dust.â€œIt ain't that bad. Just study some stuff from internet and you should be sorted out. The design isn't that complex after all.â€ Ryuu said. â€œBut, let's get on with the work now, shall we? Some of the parts haven't arrived yet, so let's do as much as we can while waiting.â€ Both Hideakis agreed about that and they went into the carage, starting to strip the car into a shell.

In the somewhat small offices of the WTCR-mag, Chief of the magazine looked closely at the pics Kohaku had taken last night. â€œSo.. He defeated the Cheetah Brothers as well?â€ The older journalist asked from Kohaku, who nodded. â€œIt actually wasn't even a race, each time he had multiple seconds lead, even when he had the chasers role.â€ Older man just grunted, looking at the pictures that showed how Ryuu had snatched the drivinglines from the brothers. â€œHe outbraked them, it seems.. Well, the next challenger will put up a good fight. Unless Midnight Dragon hasn't revealed all of it's weapons yet, the next one will be huge event.â€Kohaku nodded, grinning and taking the pics. â€œAh, right, chief.. I have one question. If we can find room for a small leaderboard in the mag, I'd like to take care of it. It would include rumours and knowledge about newcomers in the scene, have pics like this and such.â€Chief of the magazine laughed. â€œ I see where you're aiming at.. I'll consider it. Now, you have a job to do, so get going and I'll see what we can do.â€

~Few hours later~

At Hideakis carage, the work progressed well. Ryuu had received few calls from the shops which had been selected to deliver the parts they needed. Ryuu could almost see how the money flowed out from his hands, but he didn't care. This was his hobby, and without using money, he couldn't fulfill his dreams.. Like building this insane machine for wangan. They had reinforced the chassis by welding the seams completely shut. Body panels and doors were replaced with lighter, stronger materials, and suspension was changed to modern one for adjustability. Clock was slowly creeping towards evening, but they had already fitted the drivetrain and connected it with the engine. Battery and few other things had been relocated to the boot, and flat underbody plate with diffusers had been installed as well. Ryuu was astounded how much faster the parts had arrived when Katashi had ordered them. Obviously the old man still had some respect around the scene.

Hours rolled by as they kept tinkering on the car. Ryuu went to pick up parts from the shops every now and then. There were few minor changes, like getting separate oilcoolers for the differentials and gearbox. Rollcage was installed too, with some other safety measures. Ryuu wasn't happy about the weight, but he knew that it would probably save his life if there would be a high speed crash.Suddenly they heard a screech of tyres from the yard. Ryuu looked up and saw that Akane had came in for a visit.

â€œHey there! Still tinkering with the new car, eh?â€ Ryuu grinned, but didn't hug her since he was covered in oil. â€œYeah, he's almost ready to hit the road. After finishing up with few things we'll take it to the wangan for test. Luckily, Pink is out of the game as far as I know, so there shouldn't be any trouble.â€ Akane giggled and looked at the Midnight Dragon's brother. â€œHe does look quick.. but, as much as I'd like to stay and help, I have to go. My sisters cars have been repaired finally, and we got few challengers to deal with. I'll see ya later..stud..â€ She said with a wink before returning to her NSX and driving away.

â€œ 'Stud', eh..? What have you done with that girl, boy?â€ Katashi asked, smirking at Ryuu's embarrasment. â€œThat's none of your business, old man. Now get back to work..â€ Ryuu mumbled, reaching deep inside the engine bay to hide his blushed cheeks. Older Hideaki just cackled and straightened his glasses.

As they had tightened the last bolts and adjusted the suspension, Ryuu noticed that they still had some time to spend. â€œHmm.. I wonder if the bodyshop is still open. This thing needs to be painted.â€Quick call to Arata confirmed his plans, and he hopped into the car. â€œWe have time and money to get this thing painted before the run. And don't worry about the paint, it'll dry in few hours. It's new special paint he got earlier this week..â€ Rest of his words were drowned into the throaty growl of highly tuned twinturbo-rotary as he drove off.

Officially, the paint/body shop was already closed, but Arata was willing to do an exception for Ryuu. They quickly prepared the car for the paintjob, covering the windows, lights and tyres, and removing the parts that didn't need paint. â€œHmm.. Let's make this red-to-black, shall we? â€œ Arata nodded and went to mix the paint, while Ryuu finished the preparations. Arata returned with the paint and started spraying it. Ryuu went outside, since the fumes from the paint were slightly hazardous and he didn't have a mask.

The paint dried in record time, and soon they had attached the parts that were taken off. Ryuu looked at the car for a second. It looked just as fierce as it was. Red-to-black complimented the body nicely, and added quite a lot menacing feel into the cars looks. Ryuu walked to Arata, and shook his hand. â€œI'll come over tomorrow and pay full price, Arata-san.â€Arata nodded and patted his shoulder. â€œGet going, you got new road to conquer.â€ Ryuu grinned, jumping into his car and drove off.

He returned to Hideaki's to pick up Akira and the laptop. â€œWangan, here we come! Oh, and I filled him up with high octane, so it'll be 920whp this time.â€ Akira grinned and put on his seatbelts. Then the horrible reality struck him. â€œYou mean we're already on high boo-YAAAAAAAAAHH!!!â€ There was no burnout, just tremendous grip and huge weight from the acceleration that pressed them against the bucket seats as Ryuu lifted the clutch.

Ryuu drove somewhat calmly around the town for a while so Akira could calibrate the programs on the laptop. â€œThose turbocharger vanes are now linked to the throttle like you asked back then. And after we've finished with the electronics and installing the circuits etc, you'll be able to control the engine and drivetrain as you wish from your seat.â€Ryuu nodded. This car wouldn't need to be ashamed when running head to head with the likes of R34 GT-R or 4th gen Supra. He could challenge more sleeker and fast cars like NSX in terms of speed and handling. Finally Akira said that the programs had finished their calibrating themselves and the real test could begin.

They arrived on the nearly empty highway. Ryuu just grinned and floored the throttle, tossing in bigger gears as the shiftlight flashed accompanied by warning buzz. He could tell the difference to the previous runs already. The car was more stabile as the speed kept rising, and even the corners were cleared without any drama. The scenery flashed by, bit like if they'd be riding on Shinkanzen-train.Ryuu concentrated fully on driving, trying to feel and listen for every slightest hint of trouble or mechanical failure. But there wasn't any clue of those, as the rotary powered hatchback roared forwards.Ryuu knew that long straight would be next. â€œI'm going to try the high boost.. It's quite possible that we'll hit top speed this time!â€ Akira looked nervous, but nodded anyways. They cleared the corner and Ryuu shifted to sixth gear, pressing the boost scramble button. â€œ210.. 215.. 225.. 230.. 235..â€ Akira kept reading the numbers as they passed the supercar ground and entered the realm of hypercars like Bugatti Veyron, Koenigsegg CCX and McLaren F1. â€œ..240.. 245.. 250! No.. 255 MPH!â€ The car shook and howled like tortured soul in hell. Carefully Ryuu slowed down, easing off the throttle gently. He was sweating and panting. He had felt how the car had squirmed underneath him as it fought against the forces of drag and downforce, not to mention acceleration that had tried to lift the nose up. â€œ255mph..? that's enough for me.. But add one thing to the 'To do'-list.. Active aerodynamics. The nose almost lifted to air..â€ Ryuu said. Akira looked pale as he realised how close of losing control they had been. They had passed some other cars that had been doing more than 150 in a blink of an eye. Ryuu knew that there would be some new rumours going around again. He glanced at the meters and noticed that the top speed run had made the Midnight Dragon's brother thirsty. â€œ I think that we pull over at the next fuel station. We need to fill him up. And I'm pretty willing to believe that tyres didn't like the stress either.â€ Akira nodded, picking up the phone and called to Katashi, telling him the results of the test run.

As they were refuelling the red-to-black beast, three cars drove to the gas station, and parked near Ryuu and his car. They were obviously Wangan racers, since their bodykits actually seemed to be functional. Ryuu looked at the matte black GTO, that seemed to belong to the leader. Something in it caught his attention. Maybe this was a Wangan team?

The owner of the Mitsubishi GTO stepped out from his car. â€œYo.. That was quite a pass back there. Midnight Dragon, right..? My name is Masami, and this is my team.â€ Ryuu nodded and introduced himself.â€œThis is actually Midnight Dragons evil twin.. The original beast prefers the touge more, so I adopted this one after claiming spot number 4. This guy here is Akira, my assisting mechanic. We're just testing the new mods.â€Masami nodded. â€œKP60, huh? Nice to see that these old beauties are still running fast. How fast you were doing back there? We were accelerating around 180 when you passed us.â€ Ryuu laughed. â€œWell, you won't see that speed again very soon unless you'll race against Veyron.. We were doing 255mph when we passed you. The tyres didn't like it at all.â€ Masami and his team looked positively shocked. â€œ255 miles per hour.. in a Starlet? â€œ Masami looked doubtful. Ryuu gestured him closer and opened the hood. â€œThat's 920 horsepowers at wheels, in a car that weights about third as much as yours. Add modified ATTESA ETS-PRO in to the mixture and there's very few cars in the world that can keep up on high boost, be it on corners or straights.â€ Masami almost drooled. â€œVGT's.. on 20B.. and it's tuned by RE Amemiya? Wow, those must have cost a fortune.. What a beast.. But.. You mentioned the tyres?â€ Ryuu and Masami went to the side of the car. The tyres were quite sad sight. They had melted slightly from the friction. â€œthey're good to 230mph, but after that they give up rather quickly. I need to find better tyres, or ask custom tyres from Michelin or such.. if I win in the lottery.â€ Masami laughed at that.

After finishing the refuelling, they talked bit longer. â€œSo you're gonna attack Wangan soon? Cool.. But mark my words; there are insanely fast rides out there. Pink and the likes are insignificant amateurs when compared to them. You might be able to challenge them after getting proper tyres, but until that, you have to start from the bottom.â€ Ryuu nodded, agreeing with him.

After that Masami and his gang drove off, leaving Akira and Ryuu alone. They decided to have some snack before heading back to the Hideaki's to finish the work.â€œSo, what do you think, Akira? Do I have a chance against the wangan specialists?â€ Akira thought of this while munching his meatpie. â€œI believe so, atleast when you finally have gotten used to these speeds and traffic etc..â€ Ryuu nodded. Quite soon after that short discussion they were back on the road, heading home.

Next chapter is dedicated to Katashi Hideaki's evening adventure. But what kind of car he has? That'll be revealed in the next chapter, when certain arrogant punk who drives a certain yellow FD RX-7 notices that he never should underestimate old man in old car..

Katashi was bored. Now that Midnight Dragon and it's brother were somewhat complete, all he would need to do was advising them on setups and giving occasional hints about improving driving technique. Their enthusiasm and success had ignited his racing spirit as well, and he was very proud of his son and this young, promising street racer called Ryuu Masaru. Fiddling around with race spec parts and engines had brought back old memories from the mid 80's, when he had been a test driver in certain ambitious project of a major japanese manufacturer.

He still remembered when he had seen the matte black prototype first time.

His skin had goosebumps all over it, even though it had been quite hot midsummer morning as the mechanics had pushed the wedge-looking, small prototype out from the hall where it had been finished. Flip-up headlights had been replaced with solid If you canones that were protected by plexi-glass. There were so many air scoops and vents all over the car that he had difficulties to guess if the engine still were there where it was in the roadgoing model.

â€œOh.. my oh my.. I think I've fallen in love with this beast. How hard does she kick?â€ Katashi had asked from the chief of the development team. â€œIt depends of the turbo. The base engine couldn't handle the power, so we ditched the 4A-GE-series engine in favour of more reliable 4T-GT. Though, we made one with 503E, just to see what the drivetrain could take. Anyways, this beauty delivers 600-1000+AWHP. That should be enough to squash the opponents.â€ Chief had explained, chuckling at the shocked look on Katashi's face.

â€œThat much power.. You said it's AWD? How did you do that? Have you put the engine in the front then?â€ Katashi had asked. Chief just opened the hood. Underneath it was just an airduct and steering system, adjustable anti-roll bar and battery and such. â€œStill mid-engined, eh? Nice. Mid-engined AWD.. That's relatively new idea, but this monster takes the idea into whole new level.â€Chief had looked at Katashi. â€œIndeed.. but can you handle it? Remember what happened to the Lancia recently.â€

Of course Katashi remembered. He had seen the footage where the remains of the Toivonen's Lancia Delta S4's had been lifted up from the canyon. Only the tubeframe and roll cage were recognizable, the rest of the car had been burnt into ashes. Only few scorched bones were left of the Finnish daredevil and his co-driver.. â€œYes, I do remember that all too well. I know my limits, and we don't have to worry about the championship yet. Thus, I can concentrate on driving and analyzing this cars behaviour. What are her specifications right now?â€Chief asked one of the engineers to bring him the spec sheet. â€œHmh.. At the moment she's developing approximately 600bhp. As soon as you get used to that, we'll bump the power up until you're ready to drive â€œthe Behemotâ€, as we call the 503E-powered model. But, there has been rumours that if group B gets cancelled, this project will live on in hill climb races or such.â€ Katashi nodded, opening the door and sitting into the car, looking around. â€œSo many switches.. is this a car or flying saucer? I don't have my pilot's licence with me right now..â€ Chief laughed.

The test drives back then had been succesful. Group B had been cancelled, but as the chief of the development team had predicted, the project kept going on. Finally, as stricter rules and new competitors entered, the project had been called off by the chief of TRD, and the cars were sold. Two of them were wrecked, but 503E-powered beast was still up and running. In fact, Katashi was just fingering it's keys.â€œHm.. Maybe I should give her a spin for good old times.â€ He grinned and walked out of the house and into small shack. He opened the doors and removed the covers from the car, and felt how his skin quickly got goosebumps all over his body as he saw the ultimate race-bred Toyota. He dressed into his old racing suit after checking the car quickly. He pushed it out and made sure that the tyre pressure was right, proceeding these check-ups until he was sure the car was ready for drive. â€œHeh.. as good as new.. let's see if you're as reliable as your road-going little sisters.â€

Katashi sat into the tight bucket seat, and fastened the 5-point seatbelt, tightening them well. Then, he pressed the clutch and turned the key. Soft whirr of starter engine was suddenly drowned by sharp bark of race-bred exhaust. Backfire shot out every time as he blipped the throttle. Katashi kept his eyes on the gauges, listening the sound of the engine. He touched the brakes just to see if the brakefluid was up to the task. No softness there either. â€œThis, my son, is pure-bred racecar for any kind of surface, for any kind of weather.. Even though it features older technique than your friends hybrid KP60, I'll beat it with ease.â€ Katashi pressed the throttle and lifted the clutch. The car shuddered and wheels spinned with ease on the grass as it started to roll towards the road. Race spec clutch was meant to deliver 1000bhp+ to the wheels, and slow speeds were troublesome for it and the engine, that delivered it's power on higher revs, much like Ryuu's 20B. As soon as there was tarmac under the wheels, Katashi floored the throttle. Turbo was rather slow on pick-up but when it began to deliver boost, lights were suddenly blurring in his eyes. â€œTime to hide, kids.. Ultimate streetweapon is back!â€ Takashi yelled over the whine of the turbo and gearbox. Tonight, many young racers would meet the car of dreams and nightmares. TRD MR2 MK1 Group B/S known as Kuro-Ken/Black Blade was hunting again.

He drove around the city until he found bunch of kids in their typical ricer machines. Chrome rims, non functional bodykits, stereos and all. They were doing drag-races in a deserted road that led to the old mines near the city. He joined the queue, and next to him pulled more than typical ricer. Stereos blaring, chrome rims with spinners, wing, stickers, ground-hugging bodykit.... all this in boxy, yet modern Nissan. Katashi shook his head. â€œKids these days.. Oy vey.. They watch one movie and they thing that their car is fastest thing on road.â€

Obviously the kid noticed his headshake, since he started yelling something at him over the horrible techno-blast-music-thingie, making rude gestures at him. They arrived at the starting point, and prepared for the launch. As the count started, Katashi calmly showed the kid some midfinger, just to make sure that his opponent wouldn't get good launch accidentally. Count stopped, and the cars blasted off the line. Or atleast Katashi did, whereas the ricerkid stayed there doing a massive burnout after forgetting his e-brake on while the matteblack MR2 vanished to the night.

Streetracing was too easy with this machine, so Katashi headed up to the mountains. Maybe touge battle would be more challenging to him. It was also closer to rallying which was the original purpose of this car. He drove up to the pylon's parking lot, and as usual, there were bunch of kids. He passed two parked RX-7's, FC and FD, both with Redsuns stickers on their sides. The FC looked pretty much stock, but the lowered rideheight and changes in the camber were visible, telling Katashi that it was actually quite fast car. Then there was yellow FD, that looked more like racecar. Katashi recognized Mr Amemiya's design quickly, and somehow he knew that this car could be rather interesting opponent, if he could lure the driver into a race. He stopped his car, unbuckled the belts and got out of the car, stretching. Bucket seats were not designed for longer distances.

Katashi walked around, until he noticed the vans with Project.D stickers. â€œHm.. So this is the legendary Project.D that Kohaku keeps speaking of.. Support vans? They're more like professionals than kids who fool around in mountain passes..â€ Finally he noticed faces that were familiar from WTCR-Magazine. Ryosuke and Keisuke Takahashi were nearby, talking with younger kid that was sitting on the hood of hachiroku. â€œThat must be Takumi Fujiwara, Bunta's son.. That old scoundrel didn't tell me that his kid is driving that old 86 now.â€ Katashi grinned. He could sense that these weren't lousy drivers. Takahashi brothers and Fujiwara noticed him and came to him.

â€œIs there something wrong, Mr..?â€ Ryosuke asked politely. â€œOh, nothing.. Just admiring your well organized team, that's all. My name is Katashi Hideaki. You must be Ryosuke Takahashi?â€ Ryosuke nodded. â€œAnd these are our twin aces, my brother Keisuke and Takumi Fujiwara.â€ Katashi nodded to each of them, before asking. â€œAm I wrong if I say that you're here for top five teams of this area?â€Ryosuke nodded slightly. â€œThat is correct. Were here scouting and training before we challenge those teams. Why do you ask?â€ Katashi looked at their cars. â€œYou've heard of Midnight Dragon..?â€ Ryosuke nodded. He indeed had heard of this new, impressive challenger that slowly but certainly was working his way towards the top position among mountain pass racers at these mountainpasses. â€œI've heard of him. He uses old yet quick Toyota Starlet KP60. He shall be interesting opponent to Takumi, who is doing our downhill races.â€ Katashi nodded, before adding. â€œ He'll be able to tackle that FD in uphill as well.â€â€œNonsense!â€ Keisuke snorted. â€œHow could such old piece of junk compete with my twinturbo FD in uphill?â€ Ryosuke looked slightly amused, and Takumi coughed smugly. Keisuke started to mock-pout. â€œYou don't need to rub that in.. Okay, let's assume that he is as competitive as you say. Why is that so?â€

Katashi chuckled. â€œFirst, his car is lighter than your precious RE AMEMIYA-kitted twinturbo FD. In fact, it's lighter than Takumi's 86. Secondly, it's smaller than Takumi's 86 . Third reason is that his car is more nimble than Takumi's 86 thanks to shorter wheelbase and modified suspension.. Fourth, he has better P/Wratio than you do.â€ Ryosuke looked interested, whereas Keisuke looked insulted and Takumi.. Well, he was staring blankly.â€œIs that so? Interesting.. I wonder what kind of engine he has.â€ Ryosuke pondered. Keisuke cut in. â€œSay, is it true that he uses rotary engine in wangan?â€ Hideaki smirked. â€œ Indeed it is, since I ordered, assembled and helped to install that engine to the twin brother of Midnight Dragon. But that beast would simply destroy yours if you'd challenge him on wangan. You might have better chance on touge.. yet, his highly modified 4A-GEU will make that very challenging too. But, I shall not reveal more of his car now.. unless..you race me uphill, Keisuke.â€

Ryosuke looked at the old man, then at the car. His eyes narrowed slightly as the matte black car awakened some memories in his head. Before he could prevent it, Keisuke agreed. â€œI'll race you, old man. It won't be first time when I race old man in uphill. I did beat Hoshino Kouzou fair and square on his home course.â€ This fact did impress Katashi. Beating a GT-R that was driven by God Foot.. That was indeed something that was almost impossible even for professional drivers. â€œThat's impressive, kid.. but you won't beat me that easily.. Not with that feeble FD of yours atleast.â€ At this point, Keisuke was ready to sink his fists into the belly of the old, arrogant man. Ryosuke pulled him further.

â€œKeisuke, I'm afraid that he's right. This is a battle that you can not win. Look at his car.. don't you recognize it? It might have been first generation MR2, but look at it now.. and think of all matte black prototype cars you've seen in the past. â€œ Keisuke frowned as he thought harder. Then, suddenly he remembered. â€œIs that one of those three TRD MR2's that were designed for rally?â€ Ryosuke nodded. â€œTwo other models were destroyed. They were powered by 4T-GT, but this is the last one.. and if I recall right, it's powered by nothing else but 503E-engine, that was designed for hill climbs, endurance races, JGTC and such. â€œUsuallyâ€ it produces around 600bhp, but in this car it develops 1000AWHP.. which equals around 1200bhp from the crank. And this old man knows every single thing from this car, since he was the one who was chosen to be the test driver.â€ Keisuke couldn't get a word out of his mouth. No wonder that the old man took him as lightly as he had taken Takumi's 86 back then. They returned to Hideaki.

â€œI don't see the point of this race, Mr. Hideaki. As far as I can tell, that monster of a car has no weaknesses, and you know the car as well as you know these roads. So it would be no-win situation.â€ Hideaki smiled, nodding. â€œActually there is few weaknesses, that doesn't bother modern cars anymore. This car has plenty of power, but it comes with a price called Turbo Lag.. Misfiring systems weren't available yet when this baby was built. And naturally, the AWD system isn't as sophisticated as the current ones.â€Ryosuke nodded. Those 'weaknesses' weren't a surprise to him. As he considered things more, he started to see a slight glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel. Maybe, just maybe Keisuke could win, or atleast keep up with the ex-professional. He smiled a bit. Keisuke would get familiar with Takumi's usual position in races like this, and maybe his hotheaded brother would learn thing or two while chasing this old man.

â€œAlright, Keisuke.. You may race. Keep close eye on him, there's much things that you can learn from Mr. Hideaki's driving.. if you can keep up with him that is.â€ Keisuke lifted his chin proudly, looking at Katashi. â€œ I won't disappoint either of you. Even though this is unofficial race, I'll do my best.â€ Katashi grinned, shaking hands with young rotary driver, before walking to his car.

Monstrous MR2 awakened again. Black prototypes sharp BRAP-BRAP-BRAPing idle was joined my smooth snarl of a wankel as Keisuke started his car. Katashi drove off from the top of the mountain, followed by Keisuke's yellow FD. Even Takumi was intimitated by the mere sound of that matte black, wedge-looking beast as it drove away. â€œHe's one hell of a driver, I can tell it. And the way he controls a car with that much power.. even my dad would think him as slightly challenging opponent.â€ Ryosuke nodded again. â€œMaybe.. but I believe that all that power will actually slow him down, despite AWD.â€ Takumi just shrugged. He knew that if it would be downhill, he could possibly beat that old man with his natural skills, despite having less than quarter of the power what that particular MR2 had.

Soon they were at the bottom of the mountain pass, and turned around, lining up side by side. Katashi lifted his hand, spreading his fingers. Keisuke notted, and Katashi started to count down. Both cars revved their engines, building boost until the count reached zero, and both cars blasted off. Keisuke realised immediately that the old man was playing with him, letting him keep up. â€œYou'll regret that, old man..â€Katashi just grinned as he saw the RE-Amemiya-kitted RX-7 closing in. He applied more throttle, matching speed and acceleration with the younger mans coupe. â€œNot so fast, kid, I don't want to freak you out yet.. Show me what you can do.â€

Two cars roared uphill, clearing corners with such ease that it looked unnatural. Keisuke held his breath as he saw how easily Katashi performed smooth, balanced AWD drifts, feathering the throttle instead of flooring it. â€œWow.. that old fart knows how to drive.. He exceeds God Foot's skills and makes it look easy..â€ He grit his teeths, and as a proud FR driver, he started drifting as well, sliding his cars within inches of the matteblack beast.â€œOh, now you're starting to enterntain me, Mr. Takahashi..â€ Katashi muttered as he saw the sleek yellow coupe copying his lines. â€œLet's see how you can deal with some pressure.â€ Hideaki did small mistake on purpose, leaving an open line for the young, hotheaded racer. Keisuke didn't even think before going for it, slipping past the black prototype greedily.

â€œHa! You're not getting in front of me anymore, old man!â€ Keisuke yelled, before he noticed that the MR2 had recovered from the error surprisingly quickly. It was actually so close that he couldn't see much else than the roof of the small, mid-engined rallycar as it chased him mercilessly. Keisuke started pulling off daring stunts, doing his best to shake the menacing, wedge-shaped beast of a car off his tail. Keisuke felt how sweat started to run down his back. He didn't need to watch mirrors to know that Katashi was right on his tail. He could feel the pressure pounding his back painfully hard. He had never before experienced such sensation. â€œF-fast..! I can't shake him off!â€Katashi smirked evilly as he followed his squirming prey like shark that has found a wounded swimmer. â€œYou're good, I admit that, kid..but, let's go up a notch, shall we?â€ They just entered a tight hairpin. Katashi's car was in dead spot of Keisuke's vision, and right on that moment, katashi turned off his headlights.

Keisuke's eyes widened from the shock as he couldn't see the lights of his chaser anymore. But he knew that Katashi was still there. He could hear the engine and felt the pressure from behind harder than ever. â€œN-no way! I thought that only Fujiwara's crazy enough to pull off a trick like that!â€ Keisuke yelled, adding his speed as much as he dared. Roars of the engine, chattering of the BOV's and backfires echoed from the walls of the mountain, as Keisuke did his best to pull away from his invisible chaser. Keisuke felt like throwing up, and at the same time, he thought that his blood was freezing.â€œOh.. There was a small mistake.. mmm.. almost.. yes, second.. He'll crash soon if I won't pass him,â€ Katashi counted. He decided to take over after fifth. Finally, Keisuke's car started to go wide in a corner as his tyres started to give in under the abuse.

â€œDamn.. where is he? My tires aren't gripping anymore..!â€ Keisuke thought as he felt his car slipping un-intentionally towards outside of the road. That was all what Katashi needed. MR2 stole the inner line, accelerating hard while using the advantage of the AWD grip. â€œHere we go, lad.. It was nice to fool around with you, but I have some stuff to tell to your brother. See ya!â€ Katashi waved from the window to the young streetracer, turning on his lights as he reclaimed the lead and started to increase the distance swiftly.

Katashi was already talking with Ryosuke and Takumi as Keisuke arrived. He stopped his car, slowly climbing out from the car, wiping off his sweat. Kenta brought him a bottle of water, which Keisuke gratefully took from him. â€œOnly two persons have defeated me this well in the past.. and they're standing in front of you. That was some crazy driving down there.â€ Ryosuke smiled. He hadn't expected any less from Hideaki Katashi.â€œHe even pulled off similar blind attack that Takumi uses with ease. Now I know how your opponents feel when you do it, Fujiwara.â€ Shiver ran thru young man's body. Takumi looked puzzled. â€œWas it really that horrifying? I didn't know that.â€ Keisuke shook his head. â€œI've never been that horrified in my life. I started pushing it, trying to run away from that roar and pressure. I forgot everything about throttle control, and my tyres couldn't take the stress. That's all what he needed to pass me and leave me biting his dust.â€Katashi chuckled. â€œI hope you respect older drivers bit more now, young man. I could had toyed with you bit more, but then I decided to be a good contestant and..â€ Keisuke mock-pouted. â€œ I got it already! You don't need to rub it in. Sheesh..!â€ Katashi laughed and patted his shoulder. â€œDon't take it personally. I just demonstrated you what YOU can possibly do when you reach professional level. Anyway, I promised you some infromation about Ryuu's car.â€

Before Katashi could start, Ryosuke asked. â€œ Why are you doing this? He's your son's friend, isn't he?â€ Katashi nodded and thought for a while. â€œHe has been advancing too quickly. He has got talents, but they won't be enough unless he needs to pull them all out every now and then. This far he ha won because no-one has been able to beat his power to weight ratio. His cars weights about 700+kg with full tank, and his twincharged engine produces over 300 bhp with boost scramble.â€Keisuke frowned. â€œTwincharged? Isn't that same as twinturbo?â€Ryosuke shook his head. â€œTwincharging means that the engine has both super- and turbocharger. Supercharger provides power and torque on low revs, and improves the engine response, and turbocharger takes over at mid-range. This gives the engine excellent response and smooth power delivery at all revs.â€ Keisuke looked bit astonished, where as Takumi stared blankly ahead, looking puzzled. Takumi didn't need to know his enemy's car or personality to beat him or her.

â€œThat is true, young man. It has the best sides of both forced induction systems, and none of the drawbacks. Volkswagens new TSI-system applies same principle into their small, 1.4l engine, and even in stock form, it produces 1.8 bar of boost and more than 170bhp while it still achieves good mpg. It's just more sophisticated than Ryuu's setup. He recently did change his setup a bit, installing an electric engine that delivers the power to the supercharger, and thus he avoids power losses that are usually associated with belt-driven superchargers.â€ Katashi explained to the Takahashi brothers. Ryosuke was already thinking of possible tactics against this young touge specialist, who now seemed to be almost as monstrous opponent as this old man in his TRD MR2.â€œI see.. So he has aimed to the ultimate handling and instant power, and PWR-wise he has achieved it too. What about suspension? If I don't recall wrong, it had stiff rear-axle?â€ Ryosuke asked from the old rally driver.â€œHe has replaced it entirely. He did it before the engine, actually. It's just as adjustable as JGTC-machines suspension, and the rear axle was taken from relatively new RWD car, and it has race-spec differential. Sometimes he comes up with pretty wild ideas that usually work. I wonder what kind of setup he'll create for rainy day.â€

Ryosuke started to look slightly worried. Then Keisuke asked:â€œWhat about his wangan setup? What kind of performance it delivers?â€ Katashi twitched visibly. He didn't want to remember that. â€œIt's fast enough to beat my Kuro-Ken, despite having less power, torque and worse aerodynamic shape.. That 20B is boosted up via twin VGT's, giving it tremendous responsiveness and torque no matter what the revs are. The engine is ported as well, and with high-octane fuel were speaking of power that exceeds 900AWHP.â€Ryosuke blinked. â€œAWHP? So he has converted it from RWD to AWD to cope with all that power. What drivetrain does he use?â€ Katashi sighed. â€œATTESA-ETS PRO from crashed R34 VSII Nur. Custom-made driveshafts etc.. which answers to the question about his topspeed handling. He did hit 255mph briefly with Boost Scramble. He had to slow down since the nose started to lift and tyres did start melting.â€ Ryosuke, Keisuke and even Takumi was shocked.â€œNow, that is all I can tell. I wish you good luck.. you're going to need it. Laters.â€He waved at them, climbed into his car and drove away, leaving confused Project.D crew behind.

Katashi drove back to town. He glanced at the fuel gauge, realizing that he didn't have much fuel left. â€œOy vey.. I have to fill you up again, Kuro-Ken? You're about as thirsty as I am..â€ Old man laughed, heading to gas station.After filling up the tank, older Hideaki decided to make small tour past the few love hotels, just for fun. Soon his car was slowly cruising along the road, and Katashi just smiled widely after rolling down his window. Girls, more girls and some more girls, in all kinds of costumes that didn't leave much for imagination. He sighed, hoping that he would be couple decades younger.After few more passes, he pulled over and walked into a slightly questionable looking bar, that had poledancers and bunnygirls and plenty of other kinds of adult-oriented enterntainment. It had been a while since he had been there last time, but when certain bunnygirl approached him with a smile, he knew that they hadn't forgotten him yet.â€œahh.. I must have died and ended up into heaven, that's made of lace, PVC and such.. oh my..â€

And at this point we pull curtains down, dear readers. The rest is up to your imagination.

In the 8th chapter, Ryuu starts to search the next team. If he finds them and they accept his challenge, he'll be competing of the third position among the region's touge racers. Akane returns into the story as well with her sisters, and they're faster than ever, as current team number 5, Cheetah Brothers will notice.

You're doing great man, I'm still liking it. The twin car idea is cool. I'd have to say, though, I don't think Ryosuke would ever look worried, at least not in front of anybody but his brother. Interested, maybe, but not worried.

if Ryosuke was worried about Capucchino, he is worried about KP60, that is as light as Capucchino and has more power than Takumi's 86. though, it's aerodynamics are slightly more out of date than the 86's.. but it'll be a close race once it'll start.